


Friends Like These

by camitango



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Eventual Relationships, Gen, Ghost vs Children, Supernatural Elements, Will update tags as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 16:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camitango/pseuds/camitango
Summary: Gilbert's mom gave him and his friends three simple rules: don't talk to strangers, be inside by nightfall, and don't go into the woods.When Gilbert and his friends break all three, they find themselves in the acquaintance of a ghost by the name of Remington. Eventually, relationships go sour and Gilbert's little brother Ludwig vanishes, leading Gilbert and his friends to part ways.Ten years later, Remington is back, and it's up to Gilbert and his friends to stop it before it's too late.





	Friends Like These

As a child, Gilbert enjoyed playing with his friends in his backyard.

It was a large backyard, enclosed by a white picket fence. There was a large fort near the back that he had built with Elizabeta’s help. He and his friends would spend hours playing make believe in it. Sometimes his little brother, Ludwig, would come play with them, when Gilbert’s mother allowed it.

Gilbert and his friends loved when Ludwig was allowed to play with them. Ludwig, being two years younger than Gilbert, idolized his older brother more than anything. Whatever his brother said was law, even if it went against their mother’s rules.

Their mother’s biggest rules were to not talk to strangers, to stay in the yard, and to be back in by sunset. A rebel at heart, Gilbert, then age 8, was not a fan of these rules, and he pushed against him every chance he got. While it was very easy for his mother to notice he was gone after sunset, he found out quickly that it was very easy to sneak into the woods without her noticing.

It started with Gilbert and his friends sneaking out of the yard and towards the tree line. He and his friends Alfred and Mathias would race towards the border, daring the other to go faster until one of them inevitably tripped and fell. Gilbert enjoyed being away from home without his mother’s permission, so naturally, Ludwig followed Gilbert like a duckling.

Every day, Gilbert, his friends, and Ludwig would venture a little further into the woods. Alfred would always race far ahead of everyone, challenging everyone to go farther. Mathias would be close behind Alfred, skipping merrily along. Roderich always found something to whine about, from the ground dirtying his new shoes to the distance of the hike. Elizabeta would monkey around in trees, hanging upside down as often as possible. Emma, cheerful as ever, would chase after various woodland creatures.

One of the animals she followed led her to an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. Emma was not the bravest in their group. She stood and stared at it as the other kids caught up.

“Woah,” Elizabeta shouted, her eyes widening in fascination.

“I wonder if anyone is home,” Roderich said. “Maybe they’ll let me wash my hands there.”

Alfred started to race forward. “Let’s find out!”

Gilbert frowned a little. He looked around. The tree line they had rarely left was now out of sight.“Guys, where are we?”

Ludwig grabbed Gilbert’s arm. “Gil, where’s the house? Where’s mom?” His eyes started to well up with tears.

Gilbert pulled Ludwig into a loose hug. “Hey, we’ll be fine! Maybe the people in that house know how to get back home!”

Ludwig sniffed, but nodded in agreement.

It was Mathias this time who led the group. He bounded up to the house, everyone following behind reluctantly except for Alfred, who had a mischievous grin on his face. The anxious group stood back as Mathias and Alfred knocked on the door.

As if on command, the door creaked open slowly. _“Come in,”_ it whispered to the children, opening wider.

The group naively entered the house with Mathias leading the charge and Ludwig bringing up the rear, still clinging to Gilbert’s arm.

The wind lazily flowed through the house, blowing through everyone’s hair and blowing Alfred’s hat off of his head. Alfred scrambled to pick up his hat as Gilbert stepped to the front of the group, Ludwig still close behind. “Hello? Is anyone home?”

The children saw no one, but they did hear a distant whisper. _“Friends,”_ it trailed off, melting into the sound of the rain slowly beginning to fall on the roof.

Emma tensed up, crossing her arms. “Did you guys hear that too?”

Alfred erratically nodded. “I think there’s a ghost here!” he chattered, starting for the door.

Mathias lightened up. “Guys, it’s gotta be a friendly ghost! Otherwise it would’ve scared us when we entered!”

Ludwig frowned, looking around. “Maybe we didn’t hear anything. Maybe it was just the wind and rain.”

“Whatever. I need to wash my hands.” Roderich concluded, walking towards the kitchen sink.

With that, the group decided to stay for a bit. For some, it was out of curiosity, and for others, it was just the desire to not get rained on. The group huddled together in a circle, valuing the comfort and security the others.

It was Mathias’ idea to explore the house. After being met with groans and complaints, it was Ludwig who spoke in Mathias’ favor. “I need to go potty!” he cried, waddling back and forth.

As a compromise, the group went together. They eventually found a bathroom that Ludwig could use. Roderich brushed his fingers along the wall. “I wonder who actually lives here? The house is so fancy and clean!” He brushed his hands off on his pants. “Whoever lives here must be very rich!”

Roderich’s comment made everyone calm down, even Emma and Alfred, who were the most scared at first. The group slowly split up, exploring every last corner of the house.

Elizabeta grinned when she found a cheesy board game for the children to play. She brought it to the living room, where Ludwig was sitting calmly on the couch. The two of them began to play, with Ludwig quickly gaining the upper hand, much to Elizabeta’s dismay. The other children slowly wandered back to the living room, joining in Elizabeta and Ludwig’s game.

As the wind rustled through the house, Gilbert swore he heard the ghostly voice giggle.

 xxx

Hours passed by as the children played in the house. The board game was quickly abandoned in favor playing tag. It was now approaching night, and the rain had finally slowed to a lazy drizzle. Elizabeta chased Roderich around the living room while the rest of the kids watched, edging away as to not be tagged it. Unfortunately for Roderich, he tripped and fell to the floor, allowing Elizabeta to catch up to him.

“Ha, you’re it now!” Elizabeta ran off towards the other children.

While Roderich slowly started to get up, Ludwig spoke. “It’s getting late. Mom will be worried, Gil. We need to go home.”

Suddenly, Roderich froze in his tracks, staring at the couch beside him.

Elizabeta called to him from across the room. “Roderich? Are you okay? It’s just a game, you know.”

“I think I saw something move.”

“We’re all moving. We’re playing tag,” Gilbert piped up.

Roderich quickly sat up, wrapping his arms around his knees. “No, something else! Under the couch!” He frantically scooted away from the couch.

Mathias approached the couch Roderich was fleeing. “I’m sure it was just some dust or something. No need to worry!” He crouched and looked under the couch. At first, Mathias seemed to see nothing, but within a few seconds, he too was backing away. “He’s right! I saw something blink!” He retreated to Alfred and Emma, pulling both close in fear.

Gilbert rolled his eyes. “What a bunch of babies. Right, Lud?” To Gilbert’s surprise, Ludwig said nothing. He only pointed at the couch, his arm shaking in fear. Gilbert followed Ludwig’s gaze to the base of the couch, where something dark, something positively _inhuman_ was staring right at him. “What is that?” he yelled, pushing Ludwig behind him.

The ghost stared at Gilbert, tilting its head. It drifted towards him, circling Gilbert in curiosity. _“Friends?”_

Gilbert laughed as the spirit flew around him, blowing his hair in all different directions. “It seems friendly!” He jumped up and down, trying to touch the ghost. “My name is Gilbert! What is yours?”

The ghost spun around. _“Remington,”_ it replied.

Ludwig relaxed as Remington played with Gilbert. Soon most of the group was joyfully playing with the friendly ghost, skipping around and playing silly games with it. However, the group knew their time was limited. As the sky darkened, the group journeyed to the door. “Goodbye, Mister Remington,” Ludwig called out. “We’ll be back tomorrow!”

True to Ludwig’s word, they were back the following day, the day after that, and the day after that. It was part of their time together as friends. Once everyone reached Gilbert’s house, the seven children raced through the woods to Mister Remington’s house to play with their phantom friend.

As the days went by, Remington played rougher and rougher with the children. They did not notice at first, or perhaps were having too much fun to care, but as time passed, they began to notice that their friend was not as nice as they had first thought.

It started when one day, the ghost flipped the corner of a rug so Roderich would trip and fall when running over it. Remington merely cackled as the children helped their friend to his feet.

A few days later, Remington slammed a door right as Elizabeta was about to run through it. She rammed into the door hard, falling to the floor with a groan. She glared at the ghost as she rubbed her face in pain.

In Gilbert’s eyes, Remington crossed the line when it scared Ludwig. The group had been playing hide and seek, but rather than hiding nicely, the phantom lunged out at Ludwig, the seeker, and screeched. Ludwig yelped and ran off to find Gilbert.

When Gilbert heard what Remington had done, he was livid. He approached the creature, hands on his hips, and snarled. “Hey, you can’t do that! You have to be nice to your friends.”

Remington simply chuckled, staring straight into Gilbert’s eyes. _“Friends play.”_

Roderich and Elizabeta came and stood on either side of Gilbert. “But they play nicely!” Roderich exclaimed.

“You haven’t been nice at all!” added Elizabeta.

Remington started to glow a deep red color. _“Remington very nice!”_ it shrieked, lunging towards Alfred, who’s knees were shaking a lot.

“You're not my friend anymore! You’re scaring me!” Alfred cried, putting his hands in front of his face.

As the ghost started to glow in anger, Elizabeta shouted at Alfred. “Alfred! Remington is furious now, thanks to you!”

“I don’t care, man! We need to get out of here!” Alfred shrieked, grabbing Mathias’ and Emma’s hands before running towards the doorway. It slammed shut just as they reached it, locking with a sickening click.

Remington dimmed and floated away from Alfred. _“Friends,”_ it trailed off, reaching for Emma.

Emma’s eyes started to tear up as the monster got closer and closer. “I want to go home!”

Gilbert was sick of the ghost. It scared his brother, it made Emma cry, and overall ruined what would have been an amazing day for his journal. He threw a pillow at the shadow, gritting his teeth in anger. “Get away from them!”

Remington turned away from Emma, Mathias, and Alfred and gave Gilbert a bemused look. _“Friend? Why hurt me?”_ It’s hollow eyes started to glow red in fury. _“Friends don’t hurt friends!”_

Gilbert screamed. “We aren’t your friends anymore! Just let us go home!”

The ghost howled, throwing back its arms and shattering all of the glass in the room. _“Friends don’t leave!”_

Gilbert saw Elizabeta smirk a little. She had an idea. She ran to the window and leapt out. She continued running, never looking back to the house.

Gilbert grinned at her great idea. With the ghost distracted by Gilbert, all of his friends escaped through the now broken window. By the time the ghost noticed its mistake, Ludwig had just escaped through the window and into the dark forest outside. With a screech of rage, it sped out after them.

Gilbert frantically pulled himself through the broken window, cutting his hands on the glass shards remaining. He sprinted up to Ludwig, who was trailing behind the other children on their dash to the sanctuary of Gilbert’s backyard. He quickly caught up to Ludwig as the ghost fizzled out of sight. Gilbert laughed pumping his fists in the air.

Ludwig also giggled, clapping excitedly beside Gilbert, still running along. Yards from the familiar white picket fence, Ludwig, now a few feet behind Gilbert, tripped over a root. “Gilbert!” he cried.

When Gilbert looked back, his little brother was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! To those of you who read the whole thing, thank you! I hope you stick around to read the next chapter. Please leave a comment as to what I did well or what I need to work on. I always appreciate the advice!
> 
> Names:  
> Prussia--Gilbert  
> Germany--Ludwig  
> Austria--Roderich  
> Hungary--Elizabeta  
> America--Alfred  
> Denmark--Mathias  
> Belgium--Emma


End file.
